The Roman Shoe Project: The HEELing Art of Shoemaking

I asked my Roman Technology students, "How many people can say they know someone who's actually made a pair of shoes?" Before I realized my mistake, they looked around with sly smiles on their faces. One kid finally said, "Uh, I know about 25!"

Our shoes are finally done! We started in January, missed a lot of days due to weather, field trips, and special events, and finished right in time for the end of the 3rd quarter. It was a challenging project for some of my students who lacked the fine motor skills necessary for cutting and sewing, but my helpful students refused to let anyone fall behind.

On Monday, we ended our Roman shoe unit by reflecting on what we learned. Most students were most proud of themselves for learning to sew. It was their first experience with this skill. Many students mentioned how much they enjoyed this project because it gave them the freedom to be creative while spending time chatting with friends in their class as they worked. When asked to reflect on the lives of ancient shoemakers, the students used words like "tedious, physically hard, and stressful" to describe the experience. 

Our next step was to celebrate our shoes by having a fashion show. Of course, we had to use the Roman road as our runway. I mean, come onnnnn!! What better location?! For the show day, I asked the students to wear colorful socks so that they would show through the decorative punches in their shoes. It's thought that the Romans did the same thing in the colder climates of the northern empire.

Our next step will be to test the shoe construction on different surfaces. On some days we will wear the shoes to walk around our classroom and do normal tasks. On other days when we work outside (for our aqueduct STEM challenge), we'll be wearing them on concrete sidewalks. At the end of the 4th quarter, we'll look at wear patterns. To be clear, the Romans called these shoes CARBATINAE. They were meant to be worn as "slipper shoes" around the Roman house so we'll be stressing ours a little beyond their capabilities.